Preparation and Characterization of Silymarin Nanocrystals and Phytosomes with Investigation of their Stability using Gamma Irradiation

Introduction: In this study, Silymarin exhibits poor water solubility so, we developed drug delivery system. Different formulation strategies have been proposed for this problem. Materials and Methods: We were study the preparation of silymarin by dissolving it in different solvent (acetone,acetonitrile ,ethanol and methanol) to form nanocrystal and combination between lecithin and silymarin to prepare phytosome. And determined physicochemical characterization including dissolution, drug content in crystals or phytosome. On the other hand, the effect of gamma irradiation had been evaluated. Determination of crystal morphology was undertaken using SEM and TEM. Solid state was characterized by XRD, DSC and FT-IR. Particle size was determined using DLS and in-vitro drug release was evaluated for the prepared nanocrystals and phytosomes. Results: Indicated that the nanocrystal (NCy6) and phytosome (Phy1) significantly increased the solubility of silymarin by 17.12 and 35.59 %, respectively. The nanocrystals and phytosomeshavea small size (31.9 nm; Ncy6) and (186.7 nm; Phy1), also, XRD data showing semicrystalline state of (Ncy6) and amorphous nature of phytosomes. We noted that,the two dissolution formulations exhibited highest dissolution profile. Gamma radiation induced physical changes in the amorphous structure leading to semicrystalline and crystalline forms that, caused a decrease in drug solubility. We found that, nanocrystals and phytosomes could be considered as successful strategies for enhancing properties of Silymarin, and may be used as sustained release after radiation..